Belvidere High Schools - Belvidere, IL
The Belvidere High Schools in Belvidere, IL wanted a more effective way to communicate with their students and staff. They also desired a turnkey system that would allow them to forgo an endless amount of VCR and DVD players; a system that would provide seamless video distribution throughout both buildings. When it came to choosing a company who could offer these benefits, they decided on Alpha Video, who was highly recommended by three other schools that Belvidere is affiliated with.
Initially, Alpha sent a consulting team to meet with the schools, to best determine their specific needs and discuss various methods to achieve them. The requirements for Belvidere were clear: messaging, classroom AV, and video distribution. Alpha was tasked to come up with solutions to each of these, and integrate them all together, into a seamless system for both schools.
Messaging with CastNET
Working with its division, Digital Display Group (DDG), Alpha was able to provide CastNET messaging software, a revolutionary communication tool, to over 125 screens in each building. Utilizing CastNET, the schools would be able to send customized messages out to both students and staff, enabling them to more effectively communicate news and other broadcast media.
The schools each had ten screens in their lunchrooms, and DDG’s CastNET system allowed for pop-up TV, or picture-in-picture (PIP) technology to provide not only news, but appropriate broadcast features as well. These screens were all run over a dedicated CAT5 network with native resolution, allowing for outstanding clarity. Throughout the rest of the schools, including classrooms and hallways, the screens used CastNET software, but did not utilize PIP technology. Instead, these screens were run over an RF, or cable network.
Classroom AV and Video Distribution
Alpha eliminated the need for VCR and DVD players in every classroom by providing Belvidere with VBrick’s video-on-demand (VOD) system. This system offers centralized access to common media properties, easily distributed over existing cable network with a user friendly encoding or recording interface. That means that with VOD, teachers would have the ability to record programming, similar to the TiVo technology, and share it with other classrooms through a video distribution system.
The video distribution system, which allows for media sharing, also acts as a shared media storage and retrieval hub, allowing any classroom within the VOD system to access recorded programs, no matter who recorded them. In lieu of having a decoder in each classroom, Alpha also installed a set of decoders in the school’s cable TV rooms, which dramatically cut down on costs. This would allow media to be broadcast out on the in-house cable TV channels.
The last element in the installation was student produced programming. Alpha was able to build a portable broadcast cart with an RF transmitter, to take the feed from the production cart and send it out to the cable TV network. Alpha also included a VBrick encoder that allows the broadcast feed to be sent to the VOD server.
